AltWeeklies Wire
Phil Angelides Talks About the Financial Crisisnew

Congress put Sacramento’s Phil Angelides, former California lieutenant governor, in charge of getting to the truth about the 2008 financial meltdown. What’d he find?
Sacramento News & Review |
Jeff vonKaenel |
03-03-2011 |
Economy
Tags: California, Wall Street
Hey Obama, Where's the Justice in the Current Economic Crisis?new

Despite the president's promises of change, corporate crooks are still going unpunished for their roles in the financial collapse.
On Ponzi Capitalismnew
Two names have been wed in the news this month: Charles Ponzi, the con artist busted in 1920, and Bernard Madoff, one of America's most successful hedge fund managers and a reputable pillar of the Wall Street financial community. But I'm confused, because a ponzi scheme also describes the global economy.
Hanging with Trust-Fund Satanists After the Stock Market Crashnew
It may seem strange to worry about unemployed weirdos who have a safety net. But the reality is they are responsible for untold artistic extravagances. Who will produce the cult films, pay for vinyl pressings, or publish slick artsy zines?
New York Press |
Matt Harvey |
11-06-2008 |
Economy
Public Transit Agencies May Pay Billions for Risky Deals with Bankersnew
San Francisco is suddenly at risk of paying $140 million to bankers who six years ago convinced the city to use its Muni trains in a $1 billion sham tax shelter. Cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York are suddenly facing similar potential payouts.
In Paulson We Trustnew

Did the treasury secretary let Lehman Brothers fail, exacerbating the nascent crisis, knowing it would punish liberal financier George Soros and benefit his old firm, Goldman Sachs?
Wall Street's Crisis is a Crisis of Valuesnew
A system based solely on profit can't help but produce the results we are now witnessing.
East Bay Express |
Jay Youngdahl |
10-15-2008 |
Economy
Stop the Bleeding: A Plan to Bail Out Scared Homeowners
Governments are bailout banks in exchange for equity stakes in their ownership. Why not offer the same deal to troubled homeowners -- let them stay in their homes in exchange for a piece of their deeds?
How Deregulation Led to the Current Bank Collapsenew
In 2000, Sen. Phil Gramm attached a rider to an appropriations bill to deregulate derivatives trading and other complicated financial instruments like collateral debt obligations. This was the effective nail in the coffin for the FDR-era Glass-Steagall Act, which was created to prevent a repeat of the crash of 1929.
Charleston City Paper |
D.A. Smith |
10-09-2008 |
Economy
The Road Not Taken by Congress During the Economic Crisisnew
The so-called stock-injection plan would have given taxpayers ownership of preferred stock in the banks themselves. Not only would the banks have gotten an infusion of cash, but the taxpayers would've received something in exchange other than these "toxic" mortgage assets we've been hearing about.
San Diego CityBeat |
Editorial |
10-08-2008 |
Economy
Guess Who the Economic Crisis is Hurting Most? (Hint: It Isn't the Fat Cats)new
The people feeling it hardest are ordinary workers -- Joe and Joann Doe on Main Street. Meanwhile, the fat cats from bellied-up and bailed-out businesses on Wall Street are walking away with tens of millions of dollars for doing such a good job blowing the economy to high heaven.
If Wall Street Gets a Bailout, Will Infrastructure Get a Boost?new
There has never been a more stark contrast between two radically different prescriptions for economic recovery than the one that is playing out here in New York, in the state that is the home of the finance, insurance, and real estate economy -- which just blew up.
Investment Adviser: Bailout Plan Won't Helpnew
Vancouver-based Ian Gordon, a proponent of early 20th-century Russian economist Nikolai Kondratieff's wave theory of the cycles of capitalist systems, doesn't have much confidence that a bailout would make things much better.
The Georgia Straight |
Carlito Pablo |
10-03-2008 |
Economy
Thanks a Lot, Milton Friedmannew
The worst thing that can happen to an economist is for the politicians to come over to his side and actually implement his grand idea. This week, the men who did the task for Friedman in the United States, or at least some of them, had to sift through the rubble in a very public and self-conscious way and explain why it all turned out so badly.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
10-03-2008 |
Economy
Wall Street for Dummiesnew

The stock market sets the confidence level for the rest of the country. It rallies, we rally. It panics, we eat Ramen noodles. Now we discover our trusted financiers are just overly aggressive and obnoxious sales weasels.
Boston Phoenix |
Kara Baskin |
10-02-2008 |
Economy